Marked For Death: A Dark Urban Fantasy Novel

by Becca Blake

  The ringing in my ears drowned out whatever Leader Grayson said next.

  Guilty.

  The word played in my mind on repeat as everything moved in slow motion, a nightmare I couldn’t wake from. Numbness spread through my body, and though I wanted to make it all stop, I could do nothing but sit and watch.

  As the Council’s security guards surrounded Orion, he shifted into a defensive stance, his legs spread wide and his fists ready. He caught the first guard with an uppercut to the jaw, then spun around to kick the one behind him. Orion was able to get in a few solid blows before his body went limp, paralyzed by a spell or enchantment.

  One of the guards climbed on his back and restrained him with a pair of handcuffs. When they pulled him to his feet again, blood covered the side of his face, though I wasn’t sure whether it was his own or someone else’s.

  My legs moved on their own, as though someone else was pulling me toward Orion.

  “Riley, stop. We have to go.”

  Jacob’s voice was rough in my ear, and his arms were tight around my waist as he pulled me back. I let him drag me through the courtroom. Everyone else seemed to be too distracted by the spectacle Orion created to care about what Jacob and I were doing, as no one tried to stop us.

  He led me up the stairs, and we sat on the landing, looking out through the wooden rails. The air out in the entryway was less stuffy, and I felt like I could breathe again for the first time since the trial began.

  The commanding offices and Council members accompanied the guards as they escorted Orion out of the courtroom. His eyes were unfocused, and he dragged his feet as he shuffled forward. The guards led him down the stairs to the basement.

  I looked out the window at the mob that had formed to take delight in Orion’s downfall. Was he really so hated? Or were they just looking for cheap excitement, some drama to break up the monotony?

  Either way, I wished they would leave. Their presence made everything so much worse, and part of me hated them all just for being there.

  “What do we do now?” I asked.

  “We could try to sneak out through a window. If we go out the other side, we might be able to avoid the mob and make it back to your place,” Jacob whispered.

  “And then what? We just wait for our trial, so they can kill us, too?” I shook my head. “As soon as they finish up here, they’ll come for us. We need to leave Haygrove and get as far away from here as we can.”

  “If we leave Haygrove now, Orion’s sacrifice today will be for nothing,” Jacob reminded me.

  I buried my head in my hands. I’d had the same thought, but after seeing Orion get dragged away, it all felt pointless. Had we just expected to walk in and out of town without anyone stopping us?

  Maybe it could have worked that way if all we did was get our information from Haygrove’s library and leave the next day. But as soon as we found out we would have to wait an entire week for Ed to create an enchantment, we should have run fast and far.

  It was too much risk, and we lost the gamble.

  “All of this was for nothing. I don’t know what I was thinking,” I said.

  “You were thinking that you saw something wrong, and you wanted to make it right.”

  “If we stay here, we’re going to die,” I said.

  “Will you be able to live with yourself if we leave now?” he asked. “What my father and the rest of the Council are doing with these demon lords is wrong, and you found a way for us to stop it.”

  I closed my eyes.

  Jacob was right. We had to finish what we started, no matter the cost.

  Orion deserved nothing less.

  Chapter Twenty

  Jacob and I stayed on the stairs until long after the chaos of the trial passed, and the commanding officers filed out of the building. I was glad to be away from their judgmental looks, but there was no point in rushing home if we were staying in town a few more days.

  Especially if we had to push our way through the mob outside. No, I was content to wait them out and leave once they dispersed.

  “Come with me. Now.”

  I jumped to my feet to see Celia Lawrence behind us, standing with her arms crossed. I hadn’t seen or heard her approach, and I wondered how long she’d been lurking there… and how much she’d heard.

  The last time we spoke with her, she seemed like she was sympathetic to Orion, but she was still a member of the Council who framed him. She voted against him, the same as all the rest.

  “You’re here to collect us, then?” I asked.

  She shushed me with a finger to her lips. “No. Well, yes—but not like you think.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Jacob stepped in front of me.

  “Marcus did send me to find you, but we have things to discuss before he shows up.”

  “Why should we trust you?” I asked.

  “Orion trusts me. Well, he mostly trusts me, I think,” she said. “I’m the only one on his side, and you two are going to need someone on yours. I can keep you safe for a few days, at least. Long enough to get you out of here.”

  “You didn’t do him much good in there when you voted against him,” I said.

  Her dark braids fell in front of her face as she looked away from me. “There was nothing I could do for him. He was right—that trial was just a formality.”

  “So, you just let them drag an innocent man away to his death?”

  “I’m only one person. My vote wouldn’t have made a difference.”

  Jacob shook his head. I was reluctant to trust her, too. Going with her would put us right in the Council’s hands, but what other choice did we have?

  We were in way over our heads, and I didn’t see any other option. We’d run out of allies, and we were quickly running out of time as well. If Celia was offering us help, we had to take it.

  “If Orion trusts you, that will have to be enough for now,” I said.

  “Good,” she said. “I’ll bring you back to my house, and we can talk.”

  “Please don’t drag us out through that mob,” Jacob said.

  “No, of course not. We can go out back.”

  Jacob and I exchanged a nervous glance. I’d never heard of a back entrance to the town hall, and it looked like he hadn’t, either. As we followed her downstairs, my fingers twitched at the space just above my hip, where my sword should have been.

  At least I still had the gun. That made me feel a little better.

  She turned down a long hallway and stopped at the dead end to press a panel on the wall. The end of the hallway opened up, and sunlight poured into the narrow corridor.

  “I didn’t realize this was here,” Jacob said.

  “It’s not exactly common knowledge.” Once we were all outside, Celia pushed a stone on the outside wall to close the hidden door.

  We avoided the crowd and climbed into Celia’s SUV, leaving the town hall behind. She drove us to the part of Haygrove where the Council members and the most senior commanders lived in their over-sized homes.

  “I haven’t even been on this street since I moved out,” Jacob muttered.

  “Which one was yours?” I asked him as Celia parked her car in front of the first house on the left.

  He pointed to one near the end of the row with three floors, two driveways, and a balcony overlooking a pool in the backyard. The perfect suburban mansion. “I grew up there.”

  “It’s nice,” I said.

  “I guess. Wish I could say I had nice memories to go with it.”

  “Here we are.” Celia welcomed us inside into a bright interior that looked like it had been pulled straight from Pinterest. Everything was pristine and organized, like a staged magazine cover that made it hard to believe anyone actually lived there.

  After pulling the shimmery gold curtains closed, she gestured for us to
sit on one of the white couches.

  “Can I get you anything to drink?” She fiddled with the sleeve on her suit jacket.

  “I’m fine,” I said. “What did you want to talk about?”

  She sat across from us and crossed her legs, then stood up again to pace around the room. “Orion filled me in on the basics of what happened and told me you couldn’t leave town yet. I don’t fully understand why, but he insisted.”

  “We need—”

  “Stop. Don’t tell me any of the details about what you’re planning.”

  “I don’t understand,” I said, frowning. “Are you helping us, or not?”

  “Even with my position, my influence only goes so far. And the more I know, the more dangerous I am to you.”

  “Marcus already knows everything,” I said.

  “Marcus assumes a lot more than he knows, and he counts on you assuming he knows everything. If he knew Ed was working on something for you, for example, we’d have to start looking for a new alchemist.”

  “But he saw me there that day.”

  “He saw you going to get a dagger enchanted. He suspects there was more to your visit, but Ed won’t confirm it.”

  “So, what do we do?” Jacob asked.

  “I can help you get out of town,” she said, lowering her voice even though we were in the safety of her own home. “Do you have somewhere safe to go?”

  “Yeah,” I said. At least we already had that part figured out. “My—”

  “Don’t tell me,” Celia said, cutting me off once more. “That’s good. I can’t keep you safe here forever, but I was able to convince the others to delay your trial so we could focus on Orion’s.”

  “What do they plan to do with us?” I asked.

  “Marcus plans to hand Orion over to Raxael, but he hasn’t told me what he has planned for you.”

  Jacob’s face darkened. “Well, my father isn’t exactly known for his mercy.”

  Remembering the coldness in his eyes the day of Jacob’s evaluation, I shuddered. If he could allow something like that to happen to his own son, I didn’t want to think about what would happen to me.

  Celia handed Jacob a set of keys. “These are for a truck in the community lot, which you can use to get out of town. There will be people watching you at all times, so I suggest you two stay together and avoid being seen.”

  “What about Orion?” I asked.

  “They locked him in one of the cells in the town hall basement. It’s only a matter of time before Raxael comes to claim him.” She turned toward the window and rested her head on the glass, closing her eyes. “Each night, we have a security guard near the entrance. There will be two more guarding his cell at all times, though near the end of a long night, I wouldn’t expect them to be as attentive as they should be.”

  Three loud knocks came from the front door.

  My entire body tensed as Celia cleared her throat and gave me a sharp look. She answered the door and stepped aside to invite Marcus Thorne in.

  Jacob watched his father with the same unreadable expression he had during Orion’s trial.

  “A cup of coffee, if you don’t mind,” Marcus said, smiling at Celia. “You know how I like it.”

  “Of course,” she said, offering him a stiff smile of her own. She disappeared down the hallway, leaving us alone with the Councilman.

  He took the seat across from Jacob and me and leaned back. “I’d like you both to know how sorry I am about the situation with your commanding officer.”

  “I’m sure you are,” Jacob bit out.

  “He shouldn’t have dragged the you into this mess. We gave him a chance to make his case, but as you saw, he didn’t leave us with many options.” Marcus shook his head with feigned remorse. “My hands are tied here. But I’d like to do what I can to offer you safety and protection.”

  “And what do you want in return?” Jacob asked.

  “Your cooperation.”

  Celia returned with two coffee mugs, and she handed one to Marcus. “I’m sure Riley and Jacob will be happy to give us whatever we need.”

  “Our cooperation with what?” I asked. “It seems like you had all the proof you needed to arrest Orion.”

  “True.” Marcus kept his gaze on me as he took a sip of his coffee. “However, we believe he was planning to do more. We’d like to know what. And, of course, where he hid the emerald.”

  “I don’t know anything about that,” I said.

  “I would love to help you both, but I can’t guarantee your safety without it.”

  Celia stood near the window, gripping her mug. She averted her gaze, offering me no hints about how I should respond.

  Marcus fixed his grey eyes on me, waiting for my reply. His frown deepened the creases on his face, making him appear even older than usual.

  “We were knocked unconscious during the fight,” Jacob said. “When we woke up, Maki and the gem were both gone. We assumed he took it with him.”

  “I see.” The way Marcus stared at him made me wonder if he could see through his son’s soul. “This is your last chance to give me information I can use. Are you sure that’s all you know?”

  “Yes, sir.” To Jacob’s credit, he didn’t flinch or look away under the pressure of his father’s intense gaze.

  “Then, for your sakes, I hope we can find Jay Maki soon,” Marcus said, setting his coffee on the table between us. “We’ll have to provide you a protective detail until your trial.”

  “Protection from what?” I asked.

  Marcus gave me another tight-lipped smile. “It’s just a formality, of course.”

  “Of course,” Jacob said.

  I hated playing his game. Everyone in the room knew the hunters monitoring us wouldn’t be there for our protection.

  It was as fake as Orion’s trial, and it pissed me off.

  Worse, I still couldn’t make sense of any of it. Even if the Council was working with these demon lords and had been for centuries, Orion had been doing everything right. So why did they feel the need to frame him?

  “What did Orion ever do to you?” I asked. “Why do you hate him so much?”

  Instead of answering my question, Marcus widened his smile.

  “I believe we’re done here,” he said coolly. He brushed past Celia on the way out, then paused in her entryway. “I suggest you both tread lightly in the future. Lord Raxael is not one to cross, and believe me when I say you don’t want to capture his attention.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  As Marcus promised, heavily armed men who were dressed from head to toe in leather followed us back to my house and parked their SUV across the street.

  Once we were safely inside, I pulled aside the curtain and looked out at them. “I don’t understand why they’re so obvious about it. Wouldn’t it be more effective to follow us secretly, so we didn’t know where they were?”

  “My dad doesn’t think that way.” Jacob leaned back on the couch and kicked his feet up on the coffee table. “It’s all a game to him. He wants us to feel helpless.”

  “Do you?” I asked.

  He raised a brow. “Do I what?”

  “Feel helpless.”

  “Well, they have Orion. And it’ll be pretty difficult for us to get your enchantment while those guys are breathing down our necks. Things look pretty hopeless right now.”

  Sighing, I pushed the curtain back in place.

  “But no, I don’t think it’s over yet,” Jacob continued. “If there’s one thing I learned growing up the way I did, it’s that once my dad believes he’s won, he gets sloppy.”

  I leaned against the wall next to the window and crossed my arms. “So what do we do?”

  “We free Orion.”

  “From the town hall, right under the Council’s nose?” I asked. “Are you insane?”
>
  “I’m not saying it will be easy, but it’s possible. Celia gave us everything we need to do it.”

  “Should we trust her?”

  “Well, our only other option is abandoning Orion,” Jacob said. “Would you prefer that?”

  “No. Of course not.” I rubbed my forehead. “So, when do we do this?”

  “They plan on handing him over to Raxael, but we don’t know when he’s supposed to show up. And we still have two more days before the enchantment will be ready.”

  “If it’s even done on time,” I said. “Ed doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.”

  “Well, if we wait too long, we won’t be able to help him.”

  “Tomorrow night, then?” I asked. “We can break him out and send him out of town.”

  “If we do that, we’ll still have to wait another day for the enchantment,” Jacob said. “And we’ll have a lot of extra eyes on us once Orion escapes.”

  I played with the end of my braid, twirling it in my fingers as I thought. “So, we’ll have to get back here quickly before they realize what’s happened—make it look like we were home the whole time and couldn’t be responsible.”

  Jacob was quiet for long enough that I thought he’d given up on the conversation. When he spoke again, his voice was much softer than it had been before. “This could really work, you know.”

  “I sure hope so.” I sat down next to him. “Can I ask you something?”

  “Sure.”

  “What made you change your mind about standing up to your dad? I mean, this kind of hurts your chances of getting a Council seat someday.”

  “Nothing I do will ever earn his love or approval. If I’ll never be good enough for him, there’s no reason to bother trying.” He leaned forward. “You know the worst part, though? I still want him to be proud of me. I know I shouldn’t care, but I do.”

  “He doesn’t know what he’s missing,” I said.

  Jacob rolled his eyes. “Yeah. Right.”

  “I’m serious,” I said. “You’re strong and resilient, and a skilled fighter. You’re someone I trust to have my back. And I’m just glad to have you here with me through all of this.”